The Supreme Court upholds national prohibition, 1920 | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The Supreme Court upholds national prohibition, 1920 A primary source by Wayne B. Wheeler After more than a century of activism, the temperance movement achieved its signal victory with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution in 1919. The amendment abolished “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors,” and provided for “concurrent” federal and state authority to enforce the ban. It was controversial from its inception: it did not define “intoxicating liquors,” it did not specifically forbid the purchase of alcohol, it established “concurrent” state and federal enforcement but did not provide any means for enforcement, and its constitutionality was in question. To provide for enforcement of the amendment, a powerful lobbying group called the Anti-Saloon League, led by its top lawyer, Wayne B. Wheeler, devised the National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act. Though the law’s wording was confusing, it defined intoxicating liquors as anything over 0.5% alcohol by volume.

It also laid the groundwork for federal and state responsibility to prosecute violators. President Woodrow Wilson’s veto of the law was swiftly overridden by Congress in October 1919. The constitutionality of the new law and the amendment itself were challenged in a series of legal cases that were brought before the US Supreme Court as the National Prohibition Cases (1920). In this document, Wheeler reviewed the meaning of the Court’s decision to uphold the law: The decision will go down in history as one of the great judicial landmarks in the progress of our civilization. There will be an effort in Congress and in the State Legislatures to nullify the law, and we will meet the practical problem of law enforcement for years to come, but this decision will be the judicial foundation upon which prohibition will rest through the ages. Thirteen years later, the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified, overturning the Eighteenth Amendment and ending national prohibition in 1933. View images of the entire document here . Questions for Discussion You are seeing this page because you are not currently logged into our website.

If you would like to access this page and you are not logged in, please login or register for a gilderlehrman.org account, and then visit the link that brought you to this notice. Thanks! Prohibition - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google Origins of Prohibition In the 1820s and ’30s, a wave of religious revivalism swept the United States, leading to increased calls for temperance, as well as other “perfectionist” movements such as the abolition of slavery. In 1838, the state of Massachusetts passed a temperance law banning the sale of spirits in less than 15-gallon quantities; though the law was repealed two years later, it set a precedent for such legislation. Maine passed the first state prohibition law in 1846, and a number of other states had followed suit by the time the Civil War began in 1861. Did You Know? In 1932, Franklin D.

Roosevelt defeated the incumbent President Herbert Hoover, who once called Prohibition "the great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far reaching in purpose." Some say FDR celebrated the repeal of Prohibition by enjoying a dirty martini, his preferred drink. By the turn of the century, temperance societies were a common fixture in communities across the United States. Women played a strong role in the temperance movement, as alcohol was seen as a destructive force in families and marriages. In 1906, a new wave of attacks began on the sale of liquor, led by the Anti-Saloon League (established in 1893) and driven by a reaction to urban growth, as well as the rise of evangelical Protestantism and its view of saloon culture as corrupt and ungodly. In addition, many factory owners supported prohibition in their desire to prevent accidents and increase the efficiency of their workers in an era of increased industrial production and extended working hours. Passage of the Prohibition Amendment In 1917, after the United States entered World War I , President Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary wartime prohibition in order to save grain for producing food.

That same year, Congress submitted the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors, for state ratification. Though Congress had stipulated a seven-year time limit for the process, the amendment received the support of the necessary three-quarters of U.S. states in just 11 months. Ratified on January 29, 1919, the 18th Amendment went into effect a year later, by which time no fewer than 33 states had already enacted their own prohibition legislation. In October 1919, Congress passed the National Prohibition Act, which provided guidelines for the federal enforcement of Prohibition. Championed by Representative Andrew Volstead of Mississippi , the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, the legislation was more commonly known as the Volstead Act. Enforcement of Prohibition Both federal and local government struggled to enforce Prohibition over the course of the 1920s. Enforcement was initially assigned to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and was later transferred to the Justice Department.

In general, Prohibition was enforced much more strongly in areas where the population was sympathetic to the legislation–mainly rural areas and small towns–and much more loosely in urban areas. Despite very early signs of success, including a decline in arrests for drunkenness and a reported 30 percent drop in alcohol consumption, those who wanted to keep drinking found ever-more inventive ways to do it. The illegal manufacturing and sale of liquor (known as “bootlegging”) went on throughout the decade, along with the operation of “speakeasies” (stores or nightclubs selling alcohol), the smuggling of alcohol across state lines and the informal production of liquor (“moonshine” or “bathtub gin”) in private homes. In addition, the Prohibition era encouraged the rise of criminal activity associated with bootlegging. The most notorious example was the Chicago gangster Al Capone , who earned a staggering $60 million annually from bootleg operations and speakeasies. Such illegal operations fueled a corresponding rise in gang violence, including the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago in 1929, in which several men dressed as policemen (and believed to be have associated with Capone) shot and killed a group of men in an enemy gang.

Prohibition Comes to an End The high price of bootleg liquor meant that the nation’s working class and poor were far more restricted during Prohibition than middle or upper class Americans. Even as costs for law enforcement, jails and prisons spiraled upward, support for Prohibition was waning by the end of the 1920s. In addition, fundamentalist and nativist forces had gained more control over the temperance movement, alienating its more moderate members. With the country mired in the Great Depression by 1932, creating jobs and revenue by legalizing the liquor industry had an undeniable appeal. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for president that year on a platform calling for Prohibition’s appeal, and easily won victory over the incumbent President Herbert Hoover . FDR’s victory meant the end for Prohibition, and in February 1933 Congress adopted a resolution proposing a 21st Amendment to the Constitution that would repeal the 18th. The amendment was submitted to the states, and in December 1933 Utah provided the 36th and final necessary vote for ratification.

Though a few states continued to prohibit alcohol after Prohibition’s end, all had abandoned the ban by 1966. Tags Prohibition in the 1920's | 20th Century Crime Prohibition in the 1920's Columbine Massacre - A Horrible Crime Carried Out by Children In 1917 the American Senate put forward a proposed Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution to ban the sale and manufacture of alcohol in the United States. This amendment was put forward because of the abuse of alcohol by a percentage of Americans during this post World War One period. This period of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution banning alcohol is seen as the Noble Experiment, but is officially the Prohibition in the United States. Today you will find out why the United States brought in prohibition, what happened during the prohibition period and why it stopped. Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcoholThroughout the 18th century and 19th century physicians and temperance movements talked about the illness of drunkenness and a likened it to physically and mental problems. With America being a very religious country the excesses of alcohol were also seen as an excess of the deadly sins too.

The prohibition movement started moving more quickly in 1869 when the Prohibition Party was set up and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union followed a few years later. By 1881 Kansas outlawed alcoholic drinks as part of its constitution and by 1890 until the prohibition of the 1920’s the “dry” folk who wished for prohibition advanced their desire for prohibition. It was also during this time that many people starting turning against the saloons, not only from an anti-alcohol point of view but also because of the influence saloons carried in political circles. In 1917 the 65th Congress was formed and of the 204 members 140 were people who favoured prohibition. It was also during this period a renewed case for prohibition was caused, the only people who countered it seemed to be the German-American immigrants whom many ignored because of the ongoing World War One which America had joined. Because of this renewed case and the high percentage of pro-prohibition members of Congress the proposed Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution was put forward to ban alcohol. By the end of 1917 the new amendment was passed 36 states ratified the amendment.

In January 1920 the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution came into effect and it was then illegal to sell or manufacture alcohol. The name of the amendment was the National Prohibition Act otherwise known as the Volstead Act Alcohol consumption did reduce because of the act but there were further reaching consequences. One of the interesting wording terms in the Volstead Act was that it was not illegal to drink alcohol and people were allowed to make alcohol at home for their own consumption as long as it was made of fruit. This meant many vineyards were started with the view to sell the fruit on to the public to make their own alcohol. It was also found that many people simply bought massive quantities of alcohol prior to Prohibition and simply stored it at home so they still had a source of alcohol. The Federal Law enforcement agencies were known not to actively enforce the new Volstead Act when they found persons selling alcohol illegally. This meant a new type of saloon sprang up called a Speakeasy; a term meaning the people within had to talk in a more quiet fashion (speakeasy) so not to draw attention to the premises.

A police raid at Elk Lake, Ontario, 1925 The number of Speakeasy illegal saloons was huge and they sprang up at a rampant pace. In fact it is said that by 1925 there were at least 30,000 to as many as 100,000 of these illegal premises in New York alone. The problem with these illegal saloons was that many were run by criminal gangs and underground criminals. Furthermore the people who made the illegal alcohol and shipped it for sale were clearly of a criminal nature. This meant the prohibition movement was generating more criminal activity. The repeal of the prohibition in the 1920's The first sign of people trying to repeal the Volstead Act actually came in the form of the medical community as they had many alcohol related medicines and the Act also made alcohol medicines illegal. Countries neighbouring America such as Mexico and Canada found their alcohol trade flourished as many came into neighbouring countries to purchase alcohol and take it into America; this was deemed to show that it was also affecting the American economy. By the late 1920’s the trade of illegal alcohol became a source of criminal gangs gaining more and more power.

This all came to a head in 1929 when two warring criminal gangs faced one another in Chicago on the 14th February and the resulting in the Saint Valentine's Day massacre where seven Irish criminal gang members were gunned down. The criminal and economical issues along with the unrest among the everyday people of the large American cities forced the government to review the prohibition situation. By March 1933 the United States government decided to repeal the National Prohibition Act with President Franklin Roosevelt amending the Volstead Act to include the Cullen-Harrison Act which allowed the sale of alcohol that carried a percentage of up to 3.2%. By December in 1933 the act was fully repealed and alcohol could be sold once again. Related Articles American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition Multimedia Step back in time to an era of flappers and suffragists, bootleggers and temperance workers, and real-life legends like Al Capone and Carrie Nation. Created by the National Constitution Center, American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition is the first comprehensive exhibition about America’s most colorful and complex constitutional hiccup.

Spanning from the dawn of the temperance movement, through the Roaring ’20s, to the unprecedented repeal of a constitutional amendment, this world-premiere exhibition brings the whole story of Prohibition vividly to life. American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition is curated by Daniel Okrent, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.

Experience the Prohibition era through: Over 100 rare artifacts including flapper dresses, temperance propaganda, a 1929 Buick Marquette, and original ratification copies of the 18th and 21st Amendments A re-created speakeasy where you can learn to Charleston and explore the fashion, music, and culture of the Roaring ’20s Films, music, photos, and multimedia exhibits including the dazzling Wayne Wheeler’s Amazing Amendment Machine, a 20-foot-long, carnival-inspired contraption that traces how the temperance movement culminated in the 18th Amendment A custom-built video game where you serve as a federal agent tracking down rumrunners An engaging iPod audio-visual tour featuring curator Daniel Okrent along with filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, who created the PBS documentary Prohibition American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition is curated by Daniel Okrent, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Read Daniel Okrent’s full biography. Introduction On January 17, 1920, a new day dawned.

As the 18th Amendment went into effect, Americans could no longer manufacture, sell, or transport intoxicating beverages. Prohibition was now part of the Constitution, holding the same status as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the abolition of slavery. What did those who wanted America “dry” hope to achieve? And how did the “wets” ﬁght back? American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, a world premiere exhibition created by the National Constitution Center, explores those tumultuous years of 1920 to 1933, and why the country went dry in the ﬁrst place. Prohibition’s advocates said that they wanted to improve the nation’s moral and physical health, and in some ways they succeeded. But the nation also endured a radical rise in crime, corruption, and cynicism. By the time it ended with the ratiﬁcation of the 21st Amendment in 1933, America had become a very different country. SECTION 1: AMERICA HAD A DRINKING PROBLEM American colonists brought their thirst for alcohol with them to the New World.

The ship Arbella, which arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, had more than 10,000 gallons of wine in its hold for 700 settlers. It also carried three times as much beer as water. By 1830, the nation reached rock bottom. On average, Americans over the age of 15 were guzzling seven gallons of pure alcohol each year. This was the equivalent of 90 bottles of 80-proof liquor – or about four shots every day. Three times greater than current levels, it remains the highest measured volume of consumption in U.S. history. The consequences of this national binge would be severe. Upon entering American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, visitors can view a video, set on January 16, 1920, just as Prohibition was about to go into effect. Guests also will see a volume display of glass bottles that demonstrate the drastic difference in the amount an average American adult currently drinks each year versus consumption in 1830. Alcohol Was Everywhere to a Devastating Effect By the early 1800s, the country was swimming – and nearly drowning – in liquor.

A barrel of hard cider sat by the door of thousands of farmhouses, available to everyone in the family. In many cities, the tolling of a bell at 11 a.m. and again at 4 p.m. marked “grog time,” when workers were granted an alcohol-soaked break. And the wealthy might drink their evenings away in hotel dining rooms or at lavish dinner parties. In rural areas, whiskey and hard cider were the drinks of choice. Farmers used the grain they grew to make rye or corn whiskey. They also used apples from trees like those that John Chapman – “Johnny Appleseed” – had planted throughout the Ohio Valley. Some of these apples were speciﬁcally meant to be fermented into hard cider; a ceramic jug from 1895, like those used to carry hard cider, is on display. Frequently, distilled liquor was added to cider to keep it from spoiling, making it stronger than beer with an alcoholic content of at least 10 percent. The establishment that was seen as the most destructive force in American life by those advocating for reform was the saloon.

Between 1870 and 1900, as millions of immigrants flocked to the United States, it is estimated that the number of saloons nationwide increased from 100,000 to 300,000. The saloon was a male-only institution, which served many different purposes. In cities, they were gathering places for working-class immigrants that often doubled as the headquarters for political organizations. Out West, it was simultaneously a social hall, a place to pick up your mail or cash your check, and an entertainment venue. Many men gathered in saloons to escape their responsibilities on an ocean of beer and booze. A Growler-style pail from the 1890s, on display in this section of the exhibition, was used to carry beer home from the saloon. By the early 1900s, saloons had become standardized due to the efforts of the large brewing companies, almost all of them owned by German immigrants. Companies like Anheuser-Busch made exclusive agreements with saloon owners, who would sell nothing but Budweiser in exchange for the company providing glassware, furniture, and even the pictures adorning the walls.

Anheuser-Busch artifacts in the exhibition depicting this type of branding include early 20th century drinking glasses and artwork commissioned by Anheuser-Busch to display in thousands of saloons across the country. During this time period, the techniques for transporting beer greatly improved. A quarter beer barrel like the one featured in the exhibition was used to ship beer from the Anheuser-Busch headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, all across the country. By 1901, this number reached over one million barrels a year. For some members of the middle and upper classes, social drinking in the home was a sign of respectability and sophistication. This section also features a decanter, wine glasses, and other glassware that might have been found in a middle or upper class home. Many respectable women consumed “home remedies” with high alcoholic content, which sometimes led to abuse. Also featured is a box and bottle of Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, a successful patent medicine marketed to women as a remedy for “female complaints” that contained 20.6 percent alcohol in its 14-ounce bottle.

The Crusade for Temperance Begins Early anti-alcohol campaigners preached “temperance” – a term meaning everything from moderation to total abstinence. Absolute prohibition was not yet on their minds. But if closing the saloons would help men to stop drinking, then closing the saloons was a worthwhile goal. The shift in tactics began on Christmas Eve in 1873 when Eliza Thompson of Hillsboro, Ohio, led a group of women to each of the town’s saloons. The group knelt outside in the snow and prayed. Within days, nine of Hillsboro’s 13 drinking places had closed their doors. Thompson’s crusade led directly to the founding of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Under the leadership of Francis Willard, the WCTU became a 250,000 women army. The WCTU achieved their greatest victory by installing anti-alcohol curriculum in thousands of American schools. But the women realized that without voting rights, their political power was limited. Soon the campaign for universal suffrage became an essential element in the campaign for temperance.

At the first of two photo opportunities in the American Spirits exhibition, visitors can pose with life-size figures of a temperance worker and a suffragist. The photo op features campaign sashes and banners with historical slogans from both movements. Featured in this section of the exhibition is a wooden gavel with white ribbon used by Frances Willard to run WCTU meetings. The white ribbon was the emblem of the WCTU symbolizing purity. Other temperance artifacts include a letter written by Susan B. Anthony to Frances Willard in 1876 and Do Everything: A Handbook for the World’s White Ribboners,published in 1875. Suffragist artifacts include a “Woman Suffrage Party” sash from 1910. The Rise of the Anti-Saloon League Eliza Thompson began the Crusade inspired by religious piety, and it was religion that continued to be the dominant inﬂuence in the temperance movement. Baptists and Methodists – denominations that forbade alcohol consumption – led the attack, carrying their campaign into the nation’s political life. And in 1893, in Oberlin, Ohio, the Anti-Saloon League (ASL) was born.

Led entirely by Protestant ministers, the ASL would become the most effective political pressure group in American history. In this section of American Spirits, visitors enter a semi-recreated church with white pews and a pulpit. The sounds of well-known temperance hymns including “Tell Your Mother I’ll Vote Dry” and “When the Girls Can Vote” play on a loop. Adorning the walls are large frames featuring photos of famous temperance figures including Howard Hyde Russell, the founder of the Anti-Saloon League, and the original bar room smasher Carrie Nation. Carrie Amelia Nation was six feet tall, with the biceps of a stevedore, the face of a prison warden, and the persistence of a toothache. Using these assets to promote her cause, Nation became famous when she strode into a saloon in Topeka, Kansas, and pulled out a hatchet, smashing all the bottles and the mirror behind the bar. Nation called her raids on saloons “hatchetations.” Beneath Nation’s portrait, a glass case displays a hatchet made of oak and steel and a wall mirror smashed during one of her infamous bar raids.

William Jennings Bryan, also featured in this section of the exhibition, was among the most controversial figures of his time. Bryan believed that Prohibition could improve the lives of ordinary Americans. He also was a supporter of the amendments to establish the income tax, provide for the direct election of senators, and grant the vote to women. Bryan ran for president three times on the Democratic ticket, but lost each time. Buttons from his 1896, 1900, and 1908 presidential campaign bids are on display in this section of the exhibition. Later, while serving as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, he lived out his temperance beliefs by serving grape juice instead of wine at formal functions. His portrait placed above the recreated wooden pulpit, Billy Sunday was America’s most famous evangelist. Sunday believed that liquor was “God’s worst enemy” and “Hell’s best friend.” A copy of his “booze” sermon with handwritten notes prepared by Sunday from 1916 is displayed under his portrait. Temperance organizations used every method at their disposal to persuade the American public to support their cause, often using moral arguments to pull at the heart strings. Dr.

Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was among the first to recognize alcoholism as a disease and encourage drinking in moderation. Rush’s “A Moral and Physical Thermometer,” from a copy of An Inquiry into the Effects of Spirituous Liquors published in 1790, is on display in this area of the exhibition. It describes the effects of various alcoholic beverages on the mind and body, from cheerfulness-inducing wine to “murderous” rum. Recreations of temperance propaganda warning of the dangers of alcohol hang on the walls. A hand-colored lithograph titled “The Drunkards Progress” from 1846 by Nathaniel Currier shows the presumed life-span of a drunkard, with his wife and child as the victims of his abuse. The WCTU succeeded in getting every state in the country to require temperance education in public schools. Its Department of Scientific Instruction produced textbooks and instruction manuals and asked teachers to fill out report cards on how they encouraged temperance in their classrooms. A WCTU textbook, report card, and temperance lesson manual are on display.

In this section of the exhibition, visitors will discover if they might have joined the “wets” or the “drys” by answering a series of questions about their gender, religion, political ideology, and geographic location. The “Wet or Dry” interactive quiz is featured on iPad screens located in the wooden church pews. At the wooden pulpit, another iPad interactive features famous temperance speeches. After listening to samples, visitors can try their hand at delivering their own fiery speech. SECTION 2: AMENDMENT 18 After decades of promoting temperance, the anti-liquor forces determined that only a constitutional amendment could make the country dry. The man who made it happen was Wayne B. Wheeler. As the chief lobbyist for the Anti-Saloon League, Wheeler became the ASL’s most effective weapon. Taking advantage of an income tax amendment, the campaign for women’s suffrage, and a world war, Wheeler shepherded the 18th Amendment to its ratification on January 16, 1919. A new era was about to arrive in America. The dazzling Wayne Wheeler’s Amazing Amendment Machine gives visitors a visual demonstration of the amendment ratification process.

Measuring twenty-feet long and eight-feet tall, this carnival-inspired contraption follows the birth of Prohibition from 1913, when Wheeler began his campaign in earnest after the ratification of the income tax amendment, until 1919 when the 18th Amendment was ratified. An original copy of the 18th Amendment congressional resolution and notification letter – sent to the state of Pennsylvania by Secretary of State Robert Lansing to consider for ratification – is displayed in this section of the exhibition. Pennsylvania became the 45th state to ratify on February 25, 1919, one month after the proposed amendment had been ratified by the required 36 out of 48 states. SECTION 3: DRYS HAD THEIR AMENDMENT AND WETS HAD THEIR LIQUOR It was said that two groups above all benefited from Prohibition: Bootleggers and Baptists. Baptists, and those who agreed with them, had succeeded in passing a constitutional amendment. The nation’s fifth largest industry (in terms of invested capital) was effectively put out of business overnight. Bootleggers benefited from the unintended consequences of Prohibition.

In well-stocked speakeasies, men and women began drinking together in public. Vast governmental corruption eroded the nation’s respect for law. And rampant criminality, as well as some well-placed loopholes in the enforcement of laws, put illegal behavior on the front pages of newspapers daily. In just 112 words, the 18th Amendment made the manufacture, sale, and transport of intoxicating liquors illegal. But a law had to be enacted to determine how the amendment would be enforced. Passed by Congress in 1919, the Volstead Act stipulated what precisely was illegal and what was not. The Volstead Act provided three key exceptions for the legal manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages – sacramental wine, medicinal alcohol, and the preservation of fruit by households through fermentation. At an iPad interactive, visitors can test their Volstead knowhow by deciding “Is It Legal?” when different combinations of alcohol, its use, and its location are combined in a slot machine-style fashion.

Why the Twenties Roared Men and women mingling in a smoke-ﬁlled bar, martini glasses held artfully in hand: the generation that had come of age during the grim carnage of World War I now broke free from the past. When the laws changed, so did American habits. Jazz spread across the country from speakeasy to speakeasy, as did the era’s popular dance crazes, like the Charleston and the shimmy. Prohibition had given birth to the modern American nightclub. Inside American Spirits, the Center has recreated a 1920s speakeasy, complete with a wooden dance floor with the footsteps to four versions of the Charleston, and a bar where guests can learn about the evolution of the cocktail and “order a story” about the era. A video projection plays black and white dance footage from the era. Cocktail tables that surround the dance floor contain dinner plate graphics featuring 1920s slang. Coaster graphics at the tables profile famous speakeasy patrons. The mixed-gender speakeasy replaced the saloon, which had always been a male-only institution, and it now became acceptable for men and women to drink together in public.

As women joined men at the speakeasy, owners needed to find bathroom facilities for their new customers. Broom closets and other tucked-away places were converted into bathrooms, but the tiny spaces could not accommodate more than a sink, mirror, and a toilet; it was the birth of something called the “powder room.” Inside the Center’s recreated powder room, visitors can view artifacts including a cigarette case, lipstick, blush compact, face powder, and comb from the era. The changing morals and habits of the speakeasy-era also sparked a revolution in modern fashion. The trends reflected a youthful desire to break with the previous generation. Independent women working in factories and offices wanted less formal and constricting clothing; bobbed hair, straight silhouettes, and shorter hemlines became the norm. Two silk tunic-style dresses and an evening dress made of velvet represent women’s 1920s fashion in the exhibition. Women’s accessories in this section include dress clips and a brooch, a tiara made of tortoiseshell and rhinestones, a fan made of ostrich feathers, and evening sandals. Also featured, a silk cloche style hat, which became a trademark of the 1920s.

Men’s fashions featured in this section of the exhibition include a tailcoat and trousers with a top hat and oxford-style shoes, as well as the classic fedora that became synonymous with the gangsters of the era. Product Ingenuity When Prohibition shut down the alcoholic beverage industry, many entrepreneurs – both legal and illegal – rose up to fill the void for a thirsty nation. Some who had been in the industry, like the vintners and brewers, had to reinvent themselves to stay in business. Others took advantage of the numerous loopholes in the Volstead Act – or simply turned to illegal liquor to meet the steady demand. A wide array of beverage-related products from this time period can be seen in the exhibition. Soft drinks first gained popularity in the 1800s, but once Prohibition arrived, business boomed. Law-abiding Americans quenched their thirst with these sweet, carbonated beverages, while those skirting the law used them as mixers to hide the taste of low-quality alcohol. Soda-pop artifacts from this time period include Coca-Cola bottles and six-pack carton, and a Hires root beer dispenser along with an extract bottle and box. Coca-Cola saw its sales triple during Prohibition.

Charles Hires, a Philadelphia pharmacist, developed a recipe for root beer from popular colonial brews in the 1800s. Marketed as a wholesome temperance drink, Hires would grow to become one of the most popular brands of soda-pop. Vintners were left with an abundance of grapes at the start of Prohibition. But the Volstead Act had a key loophole that permitted families to preserve fruit through fermentation. It did not take long for grapes to be “preserved by turning them into wine.” Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch developed “Dr. Welch’s Unfermented Wine” in the 1860s. After winning the Methodist Church’s approval to use it as a nonalcoholic communion wine, Welch’s Grape Juice set new sales records during Prohibition. The exhibition features a Welch’s Grape Juice Bottle from 1925. Unable to make beer legally, many breweries were forced to shut their doors at the start of Prohibition. The biggest breweries found ways to stay in business by reconfiguring their facilities to manufacture other products. Pabst Brewing Company, for example, made Pabst-ett cheese, a carton of which can be seen in the exhibition.

Other brewers made ice cream or refrigerated trucks. Breweries also kept their doors open by producing perfectly legal malt syrup. The addition of water, yeast, and time yielded a foamy, alcohol-rich beer for those who wished to brew their own suds at home. An Anheuser-Busch malt syrup can and yeast container can be seen in the exhibition. Some breweries went through the process of removing alcohol from beer. This “near beer” grew in popularity as states passed dry laws, but demand quickly dropped in the 1920s as many drinkers preferred alcoholic homebrews or beer produced illegally by bootleggers. Anheuser-Busch introduced the nonalcoholic “Bevo” in 1916, which is featured in the exhibition. Certain distilleries were granted licenses to manufacture liquor for the pharmaceutical trade. Physicians sold prescriptions for a wide variety of ailments; patients could redeem one at the local pharmacy for a pint of liquor every 10 days. Early on, medicinal alcohol was dispensed in dark, unmarked bottles; within a few years, well-known brands were available.

Bottles, like the Sam Thompson Old Monongahela Pure Rye Whiskey bottle featured in the exhibition, looked just like their pre-Prohibition versions, except for the words “For Medicinal Purposes Only” printed on the label. Rumrunners and Bootleggers From hard cider to moonshine, making alcoholic beverages at home happened long before Prohibition. While the Volstead Act permitted families to make a limited amount of “fruit beverages” like cider or wine, distilling spirits was not allowed. This didn’t stop stills from popping up in basements, apartments, and backwoods across the country. This section of the American Spirits exhibition features a still used in the early 1930s by a farmer in North Carolina who manufactured spirits from his excess corn during Prohibition. Networks to transport illegal alcohol quickly spread across the country. The Coast Guard, in response to the illegal importation of alcohol along the coasts, greatly expanded during Prohibition. The Coast Guard’s efforts to stop this smuggling became the most effective element of federal Prohibition enforcement.

To demonstrate the efforts of the Coast Guard to stop illegal rum running, the Center created a custom two-player video game – complete with wooden boat wheels – where visitors play the role of the Coast Guard trolling the waters of Puget Sound off the coast of Washington state. Puget Sound was the real-life stage of restless races between coast guards and rumrunners, who were smuggling alcohol from British Columbia to Washington State. This area of the exhibition also showcases the many clever ways individuals disguised alcohol in the form of personal objects. Flasks hidden in a fake book, camera flask, cigar case flask, and a cane with a hidden flask are on display. Prohibition Enforcement Before Prohibition, the Treasury Department had been responsible for collecting taxes on beer, wine, and liquor and chasing down those who failed to pay. In 1919, the Volstead Act assigned Prohibition enforcement to a new unit tucked into the Treasury bureaucracy: the Bureau of Prohibition. Prosecution of those arrested fell to a division of the Justice Department headed by Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt. Together, these two departments faced a monumental challenge. The White House never gave them much support, and Congress, after passing the Volstead Act, never allocated enough money.

The atmosphere was perfect for official corruption on an unprecedented scale. Featured in this section of American Spirits is a federal regulation book from the era given to Prohibition agents with guidelines and forms to implement the Volstead Act. A search warrant from 1927 that was used to enter and search an alleged “saloon” operating in St. Louis, Missouri, is also on display. At three filing cabinets, visitors can lean about various Prohibition agents and administrators like Eliot Ness, Isidore Einstein, and Daisy Simpson to gain insight into the challenges that these agents faced and the corruption that ran rampant. Ness’ signed oath of office from 1926 also is featured in this section. In addition, guests can view a former Prohibition Administrator Badge from 1931 belonging to former Navy Commander John Pennington, the Federal Prohibition Administrator for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware from 1930 until 1933. Two large-scale graphics also are featured in this section. A map of the United States shows major bootlegging cities and networks crisscrossing the country, as well as the international imports and shipments that Prohibition agents were tasked with stopping.

On an enforcement organizational chart, visitors can learn more about the various federal agencies tasked with investigating and prosecuting Volstead violations and how well – or poorly – they did their jobs. Reinterpreting the Fourth Amendment During Prohibition, the Supreme Court issued dozens of decisions relating to its enforcement. Twenty cases involved the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, dramatically reshaping the way the amendment was interpreted. One of the most important Fourth Amendment cases arose after federal agents tapped Seattle bootlegger Roy Olmstead’s telephone without a warrant, which led to his conviction on a number of charges. Olmstead was the youngest lieutenant on the Seattle police force and one of its most promising officers. After leaving the force, he became the most successful bootlegger in the Pacific Northwest. The candlestick telephone used by Olmstead to operate his bootlegging empire is featured in this section of the exhibition. Olmstead appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the evidence of his telephone conversations used during his trial was inadmissible because its collection violated the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court disagreed. In Olmstead v. United States, the Court ruled that private telephone communications were no different from casual conversations overheard in a public place.

The legality of warrantless wiretapping was not overturned until Katz v. United States in 1967. Organized Crime Organized crime wasn’t a new phenomenon in the 1920s. In most cities, gangs had long controlled such illegal enterprises as gambling, prostitution, and narcotics. But these were strictly local businesses, often consolidated in a part of town known for its illegal ways. Prohibition, though, required the shipment of large quantities of physical goods from one place to another. Mobsters in one city suddenly needed partners in other places. At the same time, competing gangs fought for control of those same markets. Mob wars were rich material for the newspapers, which splashed pictures of slain mobsters across their front pages. This increase in violent crime contributed to the growing public opposition to Prohibition. Iron knuckles from gangster Owen “Owney” Madden are on display in this section of the exhibition. Madden made millions bootlegging, gambling, and on nightclub operations, including the infamous Cotton Club. An intake card from Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site shows a 24-years-inmate who was incarcerated for the manufacturing and sale of intoxicating liquor.

A reproduction M1921 Thompson “Tommy” Submachine gun on display was a popular weapon for bootleggers and law enforcement alike because of its compact design and ability to fire multiple rounds automatically. Also featured, the guilty verdict for one of the most infamous gangsters of the era, Al Capone, who was convicted in Chicago in 1931and sentenced to 11 years in prison for not paying taxes on money earned from his illegal operations. Capone also famously spent a year incarcerated at Eastern State Penitentiary Historical Site for a 1929 charge of gun possession. The Birth of a National Crime Syndicate The effort to coordinate bootlegging activities across regions produced one of Prohibition’s enduring legacies – the national crime syndicate. Criminals from Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Newark, and New York City first met in Atlantic City in 1929 to divide up territories, fix prices, and make cross-territorial distribution deals. Visitors can view a mug shot wall featuring some of the notorious gangsters and criminals of the era, along with their criminal history.

Guests also can enter a lineup and have their mug shot taken alongside life-size figures of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and Meyer Lansky. A great keepsake, the photos can then be emailed directly to visitors. SECTION 4: REPEAL THE 18th! As late as 1930, getting rid of Prohibition was considered almost impossible. No constitutional amendment had ever been repealed. And few believed two-thirds of each house of Congress, as well as the legislatures of 36 of the 48 states, would be able to agree that Prohibition was a failure. But the devastating effects of the Great Depression changed everything. As unemployment rose, federal income tax revenues plummeted. Taxes on capital gains evaporated altogether. The Congress elected in 1930 became desperate for revenue. Congress saw hope in a tax – this time, the return of a federal tax on alcohol. By the time Franklin Roosevelt came out for repeal during the 1932 campaign, it was clear that the 18th Amendment was doomed.

Ratifying the 21st In this section of American Spirits, guests can view the official copy of the 21st Amendment congressional resolution and notification from the state of New Jersey. While New Jersey was the last to ratify the 18th Amendment, it became the fifth state to ratify repeal on June 1, 1933. Celebratory images of Americans enjoying the first legal glasses of beer in April 1933 and toasting repeal in December 1933 surround the resolution. Also in this section, visitors can sit in a 1930s-style theater to view a newsreel created by the Center about repeal. Set in April 1933, it celebrates the return of legal beer and features Michigan as the first state to vote for repeal, while looking forward to the eventual ratification of the 21st Amendment that would come later that year on December 5th. Happy Days Are Here Again!

On March 16, 1933, the new Congress amended the Volstead Act’s definition of “intoxicating” to make beer legal, raising the minimum standard from 0.5 to 3.2 percent alcohol by volume; President Roosevelt signed the “Beer Bill” almost immediately. On April 7th, when the new law went into effect, the Budweiser Clydesdales made their debut. They began a nationwide marketing tour, including the delivery of a commemorative case of beer to the White House. Visitors can view a Budweiser beer bottle and case from 1933, one of the first produced by Anheuser-Busch after Congress redefined “intoxicating liquors” to make beer legal. Other propaganda promoting repeal incudes a “Repeal the 18th Amendment, More Beer Less Taxes” handkerchief and a “No Beer, No Work” pin. A “Happy Days Are Here Again” shot glass celebrates the popular theme song from Franklin Roosevelt’s 1932 campaign, which also was used to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition. SECTION 5: THE LEGACY OF PROHIBITION In almost every respect imaginable, Prohibition was a failure.

It encouraged criminality and institutionalized hypocrisy. It deprived the government of revenue, created a culture of official corruption, and imposed profound limitations on individual rights. But in one critical respect Prohibition was a success: Americans drank less. Even after repeal, Americans’ per capita alcohol consumption did not return to pre-Prohibition levels until 1973. The repeal of Prohibition actually made it harder, not easier, to get alcohol. Section 2 of the 21st Amendment returned the regulation of alcohol to the states, and states responded with new laws intended to prevent the lawlessness of Prohibition and the excesses of what came before. Everywhere there were new restrictions on buying, selling, and consuming alcohol: closing times, age limits, Sunday blue laws, and the end of brewery-owned saloons. Many states were guided by the 1933 reporter Toward Liquor Control, which described two methods of regulating alcohol sales – one in which the state issues licenses to private sellers of alcohol, the other in which the state itself controlled alcohol sales. After the repeal of Prohibition, 19 states chose “control,” while the rest chose to license private alcohol sellers.

Here, a large United States map highlights Prohibition’s lasting effects in states across the country and how the laws regarding alcohol vary drastically state by state. American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Admission to American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition is free on Sundays throughout the run of the exhibition. American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition is made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. What Was Prohibition? (1920 to 1933) By Jennifer Rosenberg Updated January 13, 2017. Prohibition was a period of nearly 14 years of U.S. history (1920 to 1933) in which the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquor was made illegal. It was a time characterized by speakeasies, glamour, and gangsters and a period of time in which even the average citizen broke the law.

Interestingly, Prohibition, sometimes referred to as the "Noble Experiment," led to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. Temperance Movements After the American Revolution , drinking was on the rise. To combat this, a number of societies were organized as part of a new Temperance movement, which attempted to dissuade people from becoming intoxicated. At first, these organizations pushed moderation, but after several decades, the movement's focus changed to complete prohibition of alcohol consumption. The Temperance movement blamed alcohol for many of society's ills, especially crime and murder. Saloons, a social haven for men who lived in the still untamed West, were viewed by many, especially women, as a place of debauchery and evil. continue reading below our video How Did Bootlegging Work During Prohibition? Prohibition, members of the Temperance movement urged, would stop husbands from spending all the family income on alcohol and prevent accidents in the workplace caused by workers who drank during lunch. The 18th Amendment Passes In the beginning of the 20th century, there were Temperance organizations in nearly every state. By 1916, over half of the U.S.

states already had statutes that prohibited alcohol. In 1919, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcohol, was ratified. It went into effect on January 16, 1920—beginning the era known as Prohibition. The Volstead Act While it was the 18th Amendment that established Prohibition, it was the Volstead Act (passed on October 28, 1919) that clarified the law. The Volstead Act stated that "beer, wine, or other intoxicating malt or vinous liquors" meant any beverage that was more than 0.5% alcohol by volume. The Act also stated that owning any item designed to manufacture alcohol was illegal and it set specific fines and jail sentences for violating Prohibition. Loopholes There were, however, several loopholes for people to legally drink during Prohibition. For instance, the 18th Amendment did not mention the actual drinking of liquor. Also, since Prohibition went into effect a full year after the 18th Amendment's ratification, many people bought cases of then-legal alcohol and stored them for personal use.

The Volstead Act allowed alcohol consumption if it was prescribed by a doctor. Needless to say, large numbers of new prescriptions were written for alcohol. Gangsters and Speakeasies For people who didn't buy cases of alcohol in advance or know a "good" doctor, there were illegal ways to drink during Prohibition. A new breed of gangster arose during this period. These people took notice of the amazingly high level of demand for alcohol within society and the extremely limited avenues of supply to the average citizen. Within this imbalance of supply and demand, gangsters saw profit. Al Capone in Chicago is one of the most famous gangsters of this time period. These gangsters would hire men to smuggle in rum from the Caribbean (rumrunners) or hijack whiskey from Canada and bring it into the U.S. Others would buy large quantities of liquor made in homemade stills. The gangsters would then open up secret bars (speakeasies) for people to come in, drink, and socialize.

During this period, newly hired Prohibition agents were responsible for raiding speakeasies, finding stills, and arresting gangsters, but many of these agents were under-qualified and underpaid, leading to a high rate of bribery. Attempts to Repeal the 18th Amendment Almost immediately after the ratification of the 18th Amendment, organizations formed to repeal it. As the perfect world promised by the Temperance movement failed to materialize, more people joined the fight to bring back liquor. The anti-Prohibition movement gained strength as the 1920s progressed, often stating that the question of alcohol consumption was a local issue and not something that should be in the Constitution. Additionally, the Stock Market Crash in 1929 and the beginning of the Great Depression started changing people's opinion. People needed jobs. The government needed money. Making alcohol legal again would open up many new jobs for citizens and additional sales taxes for the government. The 21st Amendment Is Ratified On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, making alcohol once again legal.

This was the first and only time in U.S. history that an Amendment has been repealed. Toast the Constitution: Prohibition Resources - Bill of Rights Institute Bill of Rights Institute Sign In / Register Toast the Constitution: Prohibition Resources Toast the Constitution! The Rise and Fall of Prohibition Essay Beginning in 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol, but the idea of controls on alcohol began more than a century earlier. Eventually, religious groups, politicians, and social organizations advocated for total abolition of alcohol, leading to Prohibition. The Eighteenth Amendment caused widespread disregard for the law and a surge in organized crime before it was eventually repealed in 1933. Why did some groups want a Prohibition amendment passed? How did Prohibition fit into the progressive movement? What were its effects, and why was it eventually repealed? Explore these questions with this full lesson plan . Dinner Party Activity Many notable Americans played many roles during the Prohibition era, from government officials and social reformers to bootleggers and crime bosses. Each person had personal reasons for supporting or opposing Prohibition. What stances did these individuals take? What legal, moral, and ethical questions did they have to wrestle with?

Why were their actions important? And how might a “dinner party” attended by them bring some of these questions to the surface? Download this activity and step back in time with these American icons. Prohibition Pictionary Activity The Eighteenth Amendment banned the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages and was in effect from 1920 to 1933. What impact did this amendment have on government power? What powers did the national government gain or lose? What powers did the state governments gain or lose? Who were the important players in the Prohibition amendments? What ideas, terms, and concepts were developed or came to the forefront during this period? Download this activity and explore these important questions. These lessons were developed in partnership with the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia for their “American Spirits” exhibit. Resource distribution was made possible by the Center for Alcohol Policy. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: PROHIBITION AMENDMENT ECH Search PROHIBITION AMENDMENT - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History The PROHIBITION AMENDMENT, outlawing the manufacture, transport, and sale of alcoholic beverages, was enforced in Ohio 27 May 1919-23 Dec.

1933--nearly 8 months longer than the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and its enforcing Volstead Act. When state prohibition began in 1919, most Cleveland liquor dealers either sold or stored their stocks and closed, or sold nonalcoholic drinks. About 50 of 1,028 bars stayed open. However, liquor could be easily purchased in the Cleveland area in spite of federal, state, and local attempts to enforce the law. As initial stocks dwindled, forged permits to legal warehouses, bootlegging, and area stills provided new sources. Alcohol was brought to Cleveland from Canada across Lake Erie. An estimated 30,000 Clevelanders were selling liquor in 1923, 10,000 stills were operating, and 100,000 were violating the law at home. Prohibition was never popular in Cleveland; the public resented liquor wars and raids, and in the late 1920s repeal sentiment grew as enforcement waned. Clevelander ROBT. J. BULKLEY † was elected to the U.S.

Senate in 1930 on a platform calling for prohibition's repeal. After Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1932 presidential victory, Congress passed the 21st amendment repealing Prohibition, 20 Feb. 1933, and Ohio voters approved it 8 months later. Last Modified: 22 Jul 1997 10:53:47 AM Related Article(s) 18th and 21st Amendments - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com 18th and 21st Amendments A+E Networks Introduction By the late 1800s, prohibition movements had sprung up across the United States, driven by religious groups who considered alcohol, specifically drunkenness, a threat to the nation. The movement reached its apex in 1920 when Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors. Prohibition proved difficult to enforce and failed to have the intended effect of eliminating crime and other social problems–to the contrary, it led to a rise in organized crime, as the bootlegging of alcohol became an ever-more lucrative operation.

In 1933, widespread public disillusionment led Congress to ratify the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition. Google Origins of Temperance Movement A wave of intense religious revivalism that swept the U.S. during the 1820s and 30s led to the formation of a number of prohibition movements driven by religious groups who considered alcohol, specifically drunkenness, a “national curse.” (This revivalism also helped inspire the movement to end slavery.) The first temperance legislation appeared in 1838, in the form of a Massachusetts law prohibiting the sale of spirits in less than 15-gallon quantities. Though it was repealed two years later, Maine passed the first state prohibition law in 1846, and by the time the Civil War began, a number of other states had followed suit. Did You Know?

Prohibition was known as "the noble experiment." The phrase was coined by President Herbert Hoover, who wrote to an Idaho senator in 1928: "Our country has deliberately undertaken a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose." As early as 1873, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) of Ohio called for the abolition of the sale of alcohol. They were soon joined in the fight by the even more powerful Anti-Saloon League (ASL), founded in 1893 in Ohio but later expanded into a national organization that endorsed political candidates and lobbied for legislation against saloons. Beginning around 1906, the ASL led a renewed call for prohibition legislation at the state level. Through speeches, advertisements and public demonstrations at saloons and bars, prohibition advocates attempted to convince people that that eliminating alcohol from society would eliminate poverty and social vices, such as immoral behavior and physical violence. One prominent temperance advocate, Kentucky-born Carrie Amelia Moore Nation (she called herself “Carry A.

Nation”), became known for particularly violent tactics against what she called “evil spirits.” In addition to making protest speeches, Nation was known for breaking saloon windows and mirrors and destroying kegs of beer or whiskey with a hatchet. She was arrested numerous times, and became a household name across the country for her “saloon-smashing” campaign. From State to Federal Prohibition Legislation By 1916, 23 of 48 states had passed anti-saloon legislation. Many went further, prohibiting the manufacture of alcoholic beverages as well. After the congressional elections that year, “dry” members (as those who favored a national prohibition of alcohol became known) won a two-thirds majority over “wet” in the U.S. Congress. On January 29, 1919, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacturing, transportation and sale of alcohol within the United States; it would go into effect the following January. Later in 1919, the National Prohibition Act–popularly known as the Volstead Act, after its legislative sponsor, Representative Andrew J. Volstead of Minnesota–was enacted in order to provide the government with the means of enforcing Prohibition.

Loopholes in this act–such as the fact that liquor used for medicinal, sacramental or industrial purposes remained legal, as did fruit or grape beverages prepared at home–as well as varying degrees of government support throughout the 1920s hampered the enforcement of Prohibition, and it would remain more of an ideal than a reality. Unexpected Events Under Prohibition, the illegal manufacture and sale of liquor–known as “bootlegging”–occurred on a large scale across the United States. In urban areas, where the majority of the population opposed Prohibition, enforcement was generally much weaker than in rural areas and smaller towns. Perhaps the most dramatic consequence of Prohibition was the effect it had on organized crime in the United States: as the production and sale of alcohol went further underground, it began to be controlled by the Mafia and other gangs, who transformed themselves into sophisticated criminal enterprises that reaped huge profits from the illicit liquor trade. When it came to its booming bootleg business, the Mafia became skilled at bribing police and politicians to look the other way. Chicago’s Al Capone emerged as the most notorious example of this phenomenon, earning an estimated $60 million annually from the bootlegging and speakeasy operations he controlled.

In addition to bootlegging, gambling and prostitution reached new heights during the 1920s as well. A growing number of Americans came to blame Prohibition for this widespread moral decay and disorder–despite the fact that the legislation had intended to do the opposite–and to condemn it as a dangerous infringement on the freedom of the individual. Calls for Prohibition’s Repeal If public sentiment had turned against Prohibition by the late 1920s, the advent of the Great Depression only hastened its demise, as some argued that the ban on alcohol denied jobs to the unemployed and much-needed revenue to the government. The efforts of the nonpartisan group Americans Against Prohibition Association (AAPA) added to public disillusionment. In 1932, the platform of Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt included a plank for repealing the 18th Amendment, and his victory that November marked a certain end to Prohibition. In February 1933, Congress adopted a resolution proposing the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which repealed both the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act.

The resolution required state conventions, rather than the state legislatures, to approve the amendment, effectively reducing the process to a one-state, one-vote referendum rather than a popular vote contest. That December, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, achieving the necessary majority for repeal. A few states continued statewide prohibition after 1933, but by 1966 all of them had abandoned it. Since then, liquor control in the United States has largely been determined at the local level. Tags Prohibition: Unintended Consequences | PBS Unintended Consequences details Anti-Saloon League paper, The American Issue, with headline, "U.S. Is Voted Dry", Anti-Saloon League Museum When the Mayor of Berlin, Gustav Boess, visited New York City in the fall of 1929, one of the questions he had for his host, Mayor James J. Walker, was when Prohibition was to go into effect. The problem was that Prohibition has already been the law of the United States for nearly a decade. That Boess had to ask tells you plenty about how well it was working.

The Noble Experiment When the Prohibition era in the United States began on January 19, 1920, a few sage observers predicted it would not go well. Certainly, previous attempts to outlaw the use of alcohol in American history had fared poorly. When a Massachusetts town banned the sale of alcohol in 1844, an enterprising tavern owner took to charging patrons for the price of seeing a striped pig—the drinks came free with the price of admission. When Maine passed a strict prohibition law in 1851, the result was not temperance, but resentment among the city's working class and Irish immigrant population. A deadly riot in Portland in 1855 lead to the law's repeal. Now, Prohibition was being implemented on a national scale, and being enshrined in the Constitution no less. What followed was a litany of unintended consequences. This should have come as no surprise with a venture as experimental as Prohibition.

It is no mistake that President Herbert Hoover's 1928 description of Prohibition as "a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose" entered the popular lexicon as "the noble experiment." It was unfortunate for the entire nation that the experiment failed as miserably as it did. The Atlanta Constitution Cover: "$100,000,000 For Government From Income Tax", Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Economics of Prohibition Prohibition's supporters were initially surprised by what did not come to pass during the dry era. When the law went into effect, they expected sales of clothing and household goods to skyrocket. Real estate developers and landlords expected rents to rise as saloons closed and neighborhoods improved. Chewing gum, grape juice, and soft drink companies all expected growth. Theater producers expected new crowds as Americans looked for new ways to entertain themselves without alcohol. None of it came to pass. Instead, the unintended consequences proved to be a decline in amusement and entertainment industries across the board. Restaurants failed, as they could no longer make a profit without legal liquor sales. Theater revenues declined rather than increase, and few of the other economic benefits that had been predicted came to pass.

On the whole, the initial economic effects of Prohibition were largely negative. The closing of breweries, distilleries and saloons led to the elimination of thousands of jobs, and in turn thousands more jobs were eliminated for barrel makers, truckers, waiters, and other related trades. The unintended economic consequences of Prohibition didn't stop there. One of the most profound effects of Prohibition was on government tax revenues. Before Prohibition, many states relied heavily on excise taxes in liquor sales to fund their budgets. In New York, almost 75% of the state's revenue was derived from liquor taxes. With Prohibition in effect, that revenue was immediately lost. At the national level, Prohibition cost the federal government a total of $11 billion in lost tax revenue, while costing over $300 million to enforce. The most lasting consequence was that many states and the federal government would come to rely on income tax revenue to fund their budgets going forward. IRS Treasury official with confiscated still, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division "Cat and Mouse" Prohibition led to many more unintended consequences because of the cat and mouse nature of Prohibition enforcement.

While the Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating beverages, it did not outlaw the possession or consumption of alcohol in the United States. The Volstead Act, the federal law that provided for the enforcement of Prohibition, also left enough loopholes and quirks that it opened the door to myriad schemes to evade the dry mandate. One of the legal exceptions to the Prohibition law was that pharmacists were allowed to dispense whiskey by prescription for any number of ailments, ranging from anxiety to influenza. Bootleggers quickly discovered that running a pharmacy was a perfect front for their trade. As a result, the number of registered pharmacists in New York State tripled during the Prohibition era. Because Americans were also allowed to obtain wine for religious purposes, enrollments rose at churches and synagogues, and cities saw a large increase in the number of self-professed rabbis who could obtain wine for their congregations. The law was unclear when it came to Americans making wine at home. With a wink and a nod, the American grape industry began selling kits of juice concentrate with warnings not to leave them sitting too long or else they could ferment and turn into wine.

Home stills were technically illegal, but Americans found they could purchase them at many hardware stores, while instructions for distilling could be found in public libraries in pamphlets issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The law that was meant to stop Americans from drinking was instead turning many of them into experts on how to make it. The trade in unregulated alcohol had serious consequences for public health. As the trade in illegal alcohol became more lucrative, the quality of alcohol on the black market declined. On average, 1000 Americans died every year during the Prohibition from the effects of drinking tainted liquor. A line of shamefaced bootleggers in a Detroit, Michigan police station, Photofest The Greatest Consequence The effects of Prohibition on law enforcement were also negative. The sums of money being exchanged during the dry era proved a corrupting influence in both the federal Bureau of Prohibition and at the state and local level. Police officers and Prohibition agents alike were frequently tempted by bribes or the lucrative opportunity to go into bootlegging themselves. Many stayed honest, but enough succumbed to the temptation that the stereotype of the corrupt Prohibition agent or local cop undermined public trust in law enforcement for the duration of the era.

The growth of the illegal liquor trade under Prohibition made criminals of millions of Americans. As the decade progressed, court rooms and jails overflowed, and the legal system failed to keep up. Many defendants in prohibition cases waited over a year to be brought to trial. As the backlog of cases increased, the judicial system turned to the "plea bargain" to clear hundreds of cases at a time, making a it common practice in American jurisprudence for the first time. The greatest unintended consequence of Prohibition however, was the plainest to see. For over a decade, the law that was meant to foster temperance instead fostered intemperance and excess. The solution the United States had devised to address the problem of alcohol abuse had instead made the problem even worse. The statistics of the period are notoriously unreliable, but it is very clear that in many parts of the United States more people were drinking, and people were drinking more. There is little doubt that Prohibition failed to achieve what it set out to do, and that its unintended consequences were far more far reaching than its few benefits. The ultimate lesson is two-fold.

Watch out for solutions that end up worse than the problems they set out to solve, and remember that the Constitution is no place for experiments, noble or otherwise. By Michael Lerner, historian Why Prohibition? | Temperance & Prohibition Temperance & Prohibition Why Prohibition? Why Prohibition? Why did the United States have a prohibition movement, and enact prohibition? We offer some generalizations in answer to that question. Prohibition in the United States was a measure designed to reduce drinking by eliminating the businesses that manufactured, distributed, and sold alcoholic beverages. The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took away license to do business from the brewers, distillers, vintners, and the wholesale and retail sellers of alcoholic beverages. The leaders of the prohibition movement were alarmed at the drinking behavior of Americans, and they were concerned that there was a culture of drink among some sectors of the population that, with continuing immigration from Europe, was spreading. The prohibition movement's strength grew, especially after the formation of the Anti-Saloon League in 1893. The League, and other organizations that supported prohibition such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, soon began to succeed in enacting local prohibition laws.

Eventually the prohibition campaign was a national effort. During this time, the brewing industry was the most prosperous of the beverage alcohol industries. Because of the competitive nature of brewing, the brewers entered the retail business. Americans called retail businesses selling beer and whiskey by the glass saloons. To expand the sale of beer, brewers expanded the number of saloons. Saloons proliferated . It was not uncommon to find one saloon for every 150 or 200 Americans, including those who did not drink. Hard-pressed to earn profits, saloonkeepers sometimes introduced vices such as gambling and prostitution into their establishments in an attempt to earn profits. Many Americans considered saloons offensive, noxious institutions. The prohibition leaders believed that once license to do business was removed from the liquor traffic, the churches and reform organizations would enjoy an opportunity to persuade Americans to give up drink. This opportunity would occur unchallenged by the drink businesses ("the liquor traffic") in whose interests it was to urge more Americans to drink, and to drink more beverage alcohol. The blight of saloons would disappear from the landscape, and saloonkeepers no longer allowed to encourage people, including children, to drink beverage alcohol.

Some prohibition leaders looked forward to an educational campaign that would greatly expand once the drink businesses became illegal, and would eventually, in about thirty years, lead to a sober nation. Other prohibition leaders looked forward to vigorous enforcement of prohibition in order to eliminate supplies of beverage alcohol. After 1920, neither group of leaders was especially successful. The educators never received the support for the campaign that they dreamed about; and the law enforcers were never able to persuade government officials to mount a wholehearted enforcement campaign against illegal suppliers of beverage alcohol. The best evidence available to historians shows that consumption of beverage alcohol declined dramatically under prohibition. In the early 1920s, consumption of beverage alcohol was about thirty per cent of the pre-prohibition level. Consumption grew somewhat in the last years of prohibition, as illegal supplies of liquor increased and as a new generation of Americans disregarded the law and rejected the attitude of self-sacrifice that was part of the bedrock of the prohibition movement. Nevertheless, it was a long time after repeal before consumption rates rose to their pre-prohibition levels. In that sense, prohibition "worked." We have included a table of data about alcohol consumption .

We also present some data in graphic form, including the consumption of beer in gallons, the consumption of distilled spirits in gallons, and the consumption of absolute alcohol in gallons for beer and spirits, and, in total, for all beverage alcohol. We also have some separate data for malt beverage production (beer).

Question: Which Amendment to the Constitution brought in prohibition in 1920?
Answer: 18th